BORED YET? CURE COMING?

March 20, 2020. Here in Illinois, the obese Governor has ordered residents into ‘lockdown’ ensuring failure of the economy in the state. You cannot leave the house. What fun.

Despite having time to evaluate the portfolio and action in the markets, we have made no changes in the last two days.

The tension between Trump and his physician advisors was so obvious today in his daily press conference. The Donald wants to make chloroquine (the “cure” for the virus-see below) available, but he is getting strong push-back. And he was starting to get quite angry on camera.

It is beyond our comprehension why they are resistant to using a drug that is relatively safe.

IF we start seeing usage of the drug, and it proves effective, the financial markets would sky rocket, so stay alert for buying opportunities. Which is the primary reason we are sitting tight. Trump will win this argument. (There was a physician on FOX today who said they have been prescribing and it is working.)

As efforts to discover new COVID-19 medicines roll on, President Donald Trump and others this week focused attention on the decades-old malaria drug chloroquine. Bayer got things rolling with an initial donation of the drug, and now Novartis, Mylan and Teva are taking steps to deliver tens of millions of tablets.

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, a more tolerable formulation, are not approved to treat COVID-19. Still, U.S. authorities and others are exploring their potential following encouraging preliminary results.

In response, Novartis has pledged a global donation of up to 130 million hydroxychloroquine tablets, pending regulatory approvals for COVID-19. Mylan is ramping up production at its West Virginia Facility with enough supplies to make 50 million tablets. Teva is donating 16 million tablets to hospitals around the U.S.

Some comments we have read:

Despite the cascade of negative headlines as increased coronavirus testing capacity reveals the extent of the outbreak in the U.S., some analysts are arguing that the equity market may have already begun a bottoming process, and that equity prices are nearing their most attractive levels.

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